Fine Arts: Dragons and bats sure to fly at Adam’s Chinese auction

This week’s Chinese New Year auction at Adam’s has a range of collectables for fans of Asian art, whatever their budget

A reticulated, copper alloy tiger incense burner from Iran (€2,000-€4,000) is one of the more unusual pieces for sale at Adam’s Chinese New Year auction this week

As history demonstrates, homo sapiens are hard wired to react to novelty with abandon – think of Steve Jobs’s success with the iPhone in 2007. In the 17th century, the major sensation was the arrival of Chinese porcelain in the west. European nobility clamoured for a piece of the pie. To this day we call it china.